Comments from coaches & players at year end event

[HuskyNan]

Last night, UConn held a year end wrap up/celebration at the Werth Center practice facility (planned before the season ended; it turned into a celebration). The pictures I posted last night were from the event and here are some comments.

Geno and Amanda Kimball, the strength coach, are both "under the weather". Since everyone was teasing Geno in his absence, I'm guessing it's a run-of-the-mill illness and nothing serious. CD said, "He must be tired, but I don't know why. He didn't do anything - they (pointing at the players) did all the work!". She then went on to say the seniors were 151-5 in four years then corrected herself. "Actually, the seniors are undefeated. Geno lost those 5 games. If Marissa, Shea, and I had coached those games, the seniors would be 156-0".

CD took a gentle poke at the coaching staff's critics. She said that, in their undefeated season, she got an anonymous letter after the Tulane and South Florida games (40 point and 20 point victories, respectively) saying that Geno & Co had showed the team's weaknesses and that the last 2 conference games encouraged everyone. She also told a story of a fan coming up to her at an event with a piece of paper outlining an offensive play, saying "If you run that play you'll be really good".

Later in the evening, Shea said that Geno and CD's email addresses weren't listed on the web site so that she and Marissa got all the emails from fans telling them how to run the offense, who should be shooting and from where, etc. She was laughing but, geez....

Anyway, CD said the coaching staff breaks the season into a series of goals:

Preseason games - just survive it.
Non-conference games - the goal is to be undefeated. Coaching staff didn't really think they'd be undefeated considering the schedule but the team "rose to every occasion. Coaches were surprised but the players weren't". CD called the non-conference performance "unbelievable".
Conference game - keep building, preparing for the post-season. Having gone undefeated so far, were trying to finish undefeated; losing was never an option. "We always prepared that way but we never told the team, we never talked about going undefeated".
Post-season - just win

I mentioned Shea and her comments earlier. She also said UConn assistant Jasmine Lister has signed with the LA Sparks. Jasmine's ultimate goal is to be a coach.

Marissa spoke, joked that she often gets confused with Gabby. "I'm a little older", she said.

(continued on next post)

 

[HuskyNan]

The three coaches then spoke specifically about the players.

CD's comments:
Freshman class - Lou and Napheesa are best friends, have great personalities and are a lot of fun. "And we don't go undefeated without them".
Sophomore class - CD called them (Gabby, Kia, Natalie and Courtney) the "core of the team" and said "No pressure, but you had better work hard this summer". My impression is that Natalie and Courtney are included, that the comments weren't just directed at Kia and Gabby.
Junior class - "Saniya had a rough year with injuries but that didn't stop her from making the big three pointer to beat Maryland". Everyone had a moment during the season that combined to create an undefeated year.

Shea's comments:
On getting Moriah out of Texas - "Moriah wasn't interested in UConn at all (Moriah nods her head).....until she found out Geno is the Olympic coach (Moriah nods again). "Moriah has worked tirelessly on her offensive game. She cried after a loss to Notre Dame then began to work on her game and is now unstoppable on both end of the floor". Shea had to stop speaking for a moment because she was so choked up. Moriah, who was standing on the stage with Shea, was crying, too. "Moriah has inspired me". I really can't convey how close these two seem to be. Shea tried to lighten the mood by saying the team is the best because of how close they are - they play an XBox game as a team. Moriah yells "Delta coms!". They shared a nice hug. Moriah had the chance to speak but said she didn't want to ruin her makeup by crying.

Marissa's comments:
Now it was Marissa's turn to cry when talking about Morgan. I didn't get all the comments because the crowd was getting emotional too but did note that Marissa called Morgan "Even Steven, never too high, never too low" and said that she was honored to have coached her. Morgan spoke about her closeness to the team but that "it was always Stewie and Mo against me". She also spoke about the fun events that the team does - square dancing, Easter egg hunts, three legged races.... "CD keeps us bonded as family, not just as a team".

CD, again:
"Bre and I hit it right off because we're both Jets fans" (lol). Again, I didn't take a lot of notes but CD got choked up when she said, "It will be tough to come to practice and Bre won't be there". Stewie then spoke. "There's a story that I signed my LOI on the hood of a car. What really happened is that CD kept pushing me to sign so I did to get it over with. CD is the one that created that story". Her favorite story to tell about CD is about her reaction when Polly hit the shot in the National Championship game. Stewie teased CD a little more then spoke about Geno. "Coach Auriemma has done to much for us. I'm glad for the chance to have been coached by him - it was life-changing".

Then Stewie was presented with the awards and the evening was over. If anyone gets the chance to go to one of these events, I encourage you to do so. It's fun to see the coaches and players relaxed and to hear their stories.

 

[Nuyoika]

The three coaches then spoke specifically about the players.

CD's comments:
Freshman class - Lou and Napheesa are best friends, have great personalities and are a lot of fun. "And we don't go undefeated without them".
Sophomore class - CD called them (Gabby, Kia, Natalie and Courtney) the "core of the team" and said "No pressure, but you had better work hard this summer". My impression is that Natalie and Courtney are included, that the comments were just directed at Kia and Gabby.
Junior class - "Saniya had a rough year with injuries but that didn't stop her from making the big three pointer to beat Maryland". Everyone had a moment during the season that combined to create an undefeated year.

Shea's comments:
On getting Moriah out of Texas - "Moriah wasn't interested at all in UConn (Moriah nods her head).....until she found out Geno is the Olympic coach (Moriah nods again). "Moriah has worked tirelessly on her offensive game. She cried after a loss to Notre Dame then began to work on her game and is now unstoppable on both end of the floor". Shea had to stop speaking for a moment because she was so choked up. Moriah, who was standing on the stage with Shea, was crying, too. "Moriah has inspired me". I really can't convey how close these two seem to be. Shea tried to lighten the mood by saying the team is the best because of how close they are - they play an XBox game as a team. Moriah yells "Delta coms!". They shared a nice hug. Moriah had the chance to speak but said she didn't want to ruin her makeup by crying.

Marissa's comments:
Now it was Marissa's turn to cry when talking about Morgan. I didn't get all the comments because the crowd was getting emotional too but did note that Marissa called Morgan "Even Steven, never too high, never too low" and said that she was honored to have coached her. Morgan spoke about her closeness to the team but that "it was always Stewie and Mo against me". She also spoke about the fun events that the team does - square dancing, Easter egg hunts, three legged races.... "CD keeps us bonded as family, not just as a team".

CD, again:
"Bre and I hit it right off because we're both Jets fans" (lol). Again, I didn't take a lot of notes but CD got choked up when she said, "It will be tough to come to practice and Bre won't be there". Stewie then spoke. "There's a story that I signed my LOI on the hood of a car. What really happened is that CD kept pushing me to sign so I did. CD is the one that created that story". Her favorite story to tell about CD is about her reaction when Polly hit the shot in the National Championship game. Stewie teased CD a little more then spoke about Geno. "Coach Auriemma has done to much for us. I'm glad for the chance to have been coached by him - it was life-changing".

Then Stewie was presented with the awards and the evening was over. If anyone gets the chance to go to one of these events, I encourage you to do so. It's fun to see the coaches and players relaxed and to hear their stories.

Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[meyers7]

CD took a gentle poke at the coaching staff's critics. She said that, in their undefeated season, she got an anonymous letter after the Tulane and South Florida games (40 point and 20 point victories, respectively) saying that Geno & Co had showed the team's weaknesses and that the last 2 conference games encouraged everyone. She also told a story of a fan coming up to her at an event with a piece of paper outlining an offensive play, saying "If you run that play you'll be really good".

You hope against hope it wasn't someone from the BY, but... you know it was. SMH.

 

[vtcwbuff]

My guess is that Coach Auriemma is suffering from post season decompression sickness - all that stress and then it's gone in an instant.

 

[HuskyNan]

 

[HuskyNan]

The four seniors were the ones to unveil the banner.

CD said she didn't think there was enough room for the 2016 banner but was assured there was room plus enough space for one more.

 

[HoopsFan21]

How do they get those banners made so quickly? They also had Tuck's made and put up in a matter of days too.

 

[DaddyChoc]

How do they get those banners made so quickly? They also had Tuck's made and put up in a matter of days too.

they don't deal with Kinko's... this is a top-notch university who definitely has a "print center"

 

[HGN]

How do they get those banners made so quickly? They also had Tuck's made and put up in a matter of days too.

Just keep'em coming baby............Just keep'em coming.

 

[UcMiami]

Nan - great write-up. A few additions:
For Morgan - part of what Marisa said was she was at a HS to see someone else on a recruiting trip while at Minn. and there was this eighth grader off to the side working on her moves and shots. When she noticed her the coach she was talking with said 'Yeah, she is going to be special' - and it seemed to be fated that Marisa would get the Uconn job and Morgan would come so they could work together.

Shea started the 'I got into coaching to give back ...' sentiment and that working with Moriah had been inspirational, and Marisa ran with it as well in terms of working with Morgan.

Also on the ND loss story, part of the point was that Moriah had barely played in the game, and was therefore not responsible for the loss, but was so distraught because the team had failed that she was crying.

Breanna - not just Jets fans but also Jersey Shore fans. Breanna also said that CD had told all the seniors they should think of a funny story to relate in their talk to keep from getting too emotional during there little speeches.
Moriah's was to identify the members of their 'rock band' on x-box, getting them all to stand up and take their bows.
Morgan's was the water fight in the locker room Stewart and Moriah blind siding her.
Stewart complained that CD had stolen 'her shine' by already describing the Easter Day competitions and I think the letter signing was her 'funny' to 'get back' at CD. She also brought up Briana's moment of glory as the perfect ending.
Briana complained that no one told her she would be making a speech so she had nothing prepared, but then was serious about how wonderful the experience had been from less than auspicious beginnings and how much she admired her teammates. (CD had mentioned how vast an improvement Briana had made from her first year where she was barely getting by and skating close to the edge on arriving on time for practices, etc. - called her the most improved player the last two years.)

On the awards - the Sullivan presenter mentioned that this was only the second time the award had been presented outside their offices in NYC, the first being in TN for Payton Manning, and that Mr. Williams stated that if they travelled to TN for a presentation, they could d__n well travel to CT! He also said how fitting it was that the recipient felt attending a parade with her teammates was more important than showing up to receive an individual award, no matter how prestigious.

The Naismith presenter took quite a bit of time to mention various stats regarding Uconn and the award - 10 of the 22 college awards going to Uconn players, and Breanna being the first to win 4 in a five year span (1 HS and 3 college.)

The new AD did the wrap-up. Said that whoever came up with the format should be congratulated as it was the best such season ender he had been involved with. He mentioned that this was a special moment for him, not because it was #11, or the 4th in a row, but because it was his first NC, not just at Uconn, but ever in his career! First time I have seen him speak and he did well talking about how the program had welcomed him into their circle even though he was new and it was so late in their season.

My moment of glory - telling Moriah that I used to think Sue Bird was a pretty good point guard! - She and Courtney who were standing together got a good chuckle!

 

[UcMiami]

Just keep'em coming baby..Just keep'em coming.

CD said that last year Geno complained they had run out of room, but the tech guy said they could get another in - and that she has been informed there is still room for more!

 

[HuskyNan]

How do they get those banners made so quickly? They also had Tuck's made and put up in a matter of days too.

It doesn't say UConn; it could have gone to any winning team.

 

[mr006]

It doesn't say UConn; it could have gone to any winning team.

Not sure how thrilled the folks in Tenn would be to get an NC banner in National Flag Blue, trimmed in red... although right around now, they'd probably take it in polka dots.
Maybe they decided to make NC banners in UConn colors as an honor?

 

[HuskyNan]

Not sure how thrilled the folks in Tenn would be to get an NC banner in National Flag Blue, trimmed in red... although right around now, they'd probably take it in polka dots.
Maybe they decided to make NC banners in UConn colors as an honor?

Good point. Baylor banners on the right, I believe.

 

[mr006]

Good point. Baylor banners on the right, I believe.

Ours in our arena are white, also...

gonna need some more ventilation pipes soon

 

[Geno-ista]

Good point. Baylor banners on the right, I believe.

Nan- great posts! Was this event open to the public? Season ticketholders?

 

[UcMiami]

Nan- great posts! Was this event open to the public? Season ticketholders?

Open to the public with a cover charge of $75.00

 

[Geno-ista]

Open to the public with a cover charge of $75.00

Man- I wish i had jumped on that- I don't remember seeing an e mail about it- but I've been insanely busy. And sold my home and moving- shoot!!!

 

[HuskyNan]

Open to the public with a cover charge of $75.00

$75 per person. I think people who have donated to UConn at some point got onto the email list.

 

[HuskyNan]

I remembered one more bon mot from last night. CD said that Stewie likes the new practice facility (where the event was held last night) because she could look up into the banners instead of the upper seats of Gampel when Geno started yelling at her. Geno used to yell, "What's up in Section 202? Why do you keep looking up at Section 202?". Now she can just look up at her friends' names.

 

[Geno-ista]

$75 per person. I think people who have donated to UConn at some point got onto the email list.

This Nan!

 

[UC10NN]

Thank you Nan and UCMiami. I am so grateful for your recount of the evening celebration. For those of us that will never get the chance to attend these functions, it makes us feel as if we were there.

 

[BigBird]

Thank you all for really informative and interesting posts. Fantastic!

Do you know how fortunate you are to live in proximity to the center of the WBB universe?